Halliday
A surname with more than one likely origin, but often linked to a Scottish border byname or to the phrase “holy day.”
The #7,298 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 67,589 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Halliday has several old explanations. One tradition says it began as a Scottish Border nickname or war-cry based on “a holy day,” used in a figurative sense by raiding families. Other evidence points to an English and Scottish surname formed from the personal name Adkin or from older spellings such as Halyday and Halliday-like forms in medieval records, so the exact source may differ by branch.
History
Lower treated Halliday as a notable Scottish Border clan name and said it became common in England from the 13th century onward. Bardsley and Barber both suggest that some Hallidays are actually connected with other medieval name forms, so the surname may have arisen independently in more than one place. The name also appears in records of a Walter Halliday, a minstrel who served Edward IV., which helped keep the surname visible in later English history.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century explanation says Border raiders jokingly called a successful day of plunder “a holy day.”
From the historical record
“place. HALLIDAY. A well-known Scottish border clan, who from their great animosity against the Southron are said to have adopted the -svar-cry or slogan of A Holy Day, (Scottice, " a Haly Day "), because the chiefs and people of Annandale, when- ever they made a o-aid or foray upon the Saxon border, accounted the…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom